Aleuas Drachm

Sale: CNG 78, Lot: 463. Estimate $500.  Closing Date: Wednesday, 14 May 2008.  Sold For $600. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

THESSALY, Larissa. Circa 370-360 BC. AR Drachm (6.07 g, 1h). Head of Aleuas facing slightly left, wearing conical helmet; labrys to right / Eagle standing left, head right, on thunderbolt. Herrmann group VIII, pl. VII, 11; SNG Copenhagen -; BMC 12; Jameson 2469; Gulbenkian 473 (all from the same dies). VF, lightly toned, flat strike at high point on reverse.

A number of theories surround this enigmatic issue, unique in Larissan coinage. The most widely-accepted interpretations are those propounded by C. Seltman and M. Sordi. For Seltman (Greek Coins, p. 161), Aleuas (founder of the Thessalian ruling house) is depicted to promote the claim of Hellokrates, an Aleuad noble, against Alexander of Pherai in 361 BC. Supporting this contention is the legend on the reverse, ELLA, seen as a contracted form of Hellokrates. M. Sordi ("La drachma di Aleuas e l'origine di un tipo monetario di Alessandro Magno," Annali 3 [1956]), however, has dated this type to the reign of Alexander III of Macedon. Upon Alexander’s accession, he became lagas of Thessaly, and Sordi suggests that Alexander issued this coinage to emphasize the joint ancestry of the Thessalian and Macedonian royalty, both of whom descended from Dodona in Epeiros. Sordi notes that, along with Epeirote coins, this type is also found on early issues of Alexander III of Macedon (the ‘eagle’ coinage, cf. Price pl. CXLIII). A secure date and historical context await further research or evidence.